Raiders of the Lost Bark: Orangutan Foraging Strategies in a Degraded Landscape

Deforestation is rapidly transforming primary forests across the tropics into human-dominated landscapes. Consequently, conservationists need to understand how different taxa respond and adapt to these changes in order to develop appropriate management strategies. Our two year study seeks to determine how wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) adapt to living in an isolated agroforest landscape by investigating the sex of crop-raiders related to population demographics, and their temporal variations in feeding behaviour and dietary composition. From focal animal sampling we found that nine identified females raided cultivated fruits more than the four males. Seasonal adaptations were shown through orangutan feeding habits that shifted from being predominantly fruit-based (56% of the total feeding time, then 22% on bark) to the fallback food of bark (44%, then 35% on fruits), when key cultivated resources such as jackfruit (Artocarpus integer), were unavailable. Cultivated fruits were mostly consumed in the afternoon and evening, when farmers had returned home. The finding that females take greater crop-raiding risks than males differs from previous human-primate conflict studies, probably because of the low risks associated (as farmers rarely retaliated) and low intraspecific competition between males. Thus, the behavioral ecology of orangutans living in this human-dominated landscape differs markedly from that in primary forest, where orangutans have a strictly wild food diet, even where primary rainforests directly borders farmland. The importance of wild food availability was clearly illustrated in this study with 21% of the total orangutan feeding time being allocated to feeding on cultivated fruits. As forests are increasingly converted to cultivation, humans and orangutans are predicted to come into conflict more frequently. This study reveals orangutan adaptations for coexisting with humans, e.g. changes in temporal foraging patterns, which should be used for guiding the development of specific human-wildlife conflict mitigation strategies to lessen future crop-raiding and conflicts

Analysis of RNA splicing defects in PITX2 mutants supports a gene dosage model of Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome

BACKGROUND: Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome (ARS) is associated with mutations in the PITX2 gene that encodes a homeobox transcription factor. Several intronic PITX2 mutations have been reported in Axenfeld-Rieger patients but their effects on gene expression have not been tested. METHODS: We present two new families with recurrent PITX2 intronic mutations and use PITX2c minigenes and transfected cells to address the hypothesis that intronic mutations effect RNA splicing. Three PITX2 mutations have been analyzed: a G>T mutation within the AG 3' splice site (ss) junction associated with exon 4 (IVS4-1G>T), a G>C mutation at position +5 of the 5' (ss) of exon 4 (IVS4+5G>C), and a previously reported A>G substitution at position -11 of 3'ss of exon 5 (IVS5-11A>G). RESULTS: Mutation IVS4+5G>C showed 71% retention of the intron between exons 4 and 5, and poorly expressed protein. Wild-type protein levels were proportionally expressed from correctly spliced mRNA. The G>T mutation within the exon 4 AG 3'ss junction shifted splicing exclusively to a new AG and resulted in a severely truncated, poorly expressed protein. Finally, the A>G substitution at position -11 of the 3'ss of exon 5 shifted splicing exclusively to a newly created upstream AG and resulted in generation of a protein with a truncated homeodomain. CONCLUSION: This is the first direct evidence to support aberrant RNA splicing as the mechanism underlying the disorder in some patients and suggests that the magnitude of the splicing defect may contribute to the variability of ARS phenotypes, in support of a gene dosage model of Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome

Evaluation of stress induced damage in composite material

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN016261 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

The alcohols of the hydroaromatic and terpene series : a) Fenchone and the fenchyl alcohols. b) Borneol and isoborneol.

Abstract Not Provided

The alcohols of the hydroaromatic and terpene series : a) Fenchone and the fenchyl alcohols. b) Borneol and isoborneol.

Abstract Not Provided